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Do you remember TV in 2007? Reality shows dominated the schedule. But viewer disenchantment with American Idol combined with new offerings helped reshape scripted entertainment. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video proved a new model was possible. The same model may be playing out for journalism now. Netflix piled up 91 nominations at the 2017 […]

Amazon delivered a surprise punch to Seattle last week. It was as if an attractive, wealthy spouse asked for an open marriage. A shocker. Kind of like when Boeing moved its HQ to Chicago in 2001. Some say the company is responding to civic leaders who pile Seattle’s woes on Amazon (traffic, housing costs, homelessness). […]

Roger Federer is sponsored by Rolex, Nike and other brands for about $71 million per year. Serena Williams’ sponsorships from Nike and other brands make her the highest paid female athlete in the world. But there is a subcategory of tennis player who gets sponsorship at the last possible moment. While it might only be […]

Is DevOps suffering from over-automation? The promise of DevOps is faster application deployment, such as multiple updates per day. The development methodology is central to the success of Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and other tech heavyweights. According to Gartner the DevOps tools market is $3 billion in 2017, up 21.1 percent from 2016. Mainstream enterprises, such […]

Content marketing is a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services. Instead of pitching products or services, content marketing provides relevant and useful content […]

The term thought leadership conjures images of a douchey guy giving a Ted Talk. He’s usually striding across a stage, conflating world peace with some new technology. Thought leadership is dragged down by that image. It’s not fair. Tech marketing types often wince when discussing it. One marketing director recently asked to have thought leadership […]

Tech companies perform unnatural acts to recruit software developers from competitors. Some companies pursue “talent hoarding” where devs are given generous compensation and prime assignments to dissuade them from joining competitors. Where will this end? Demand for software programmers has never been higher. Entry level engineers can earn $120,000 per year not including stock grants. Alphabet, […]

Open source software started as the hippie alternative to Unix and C++. It was for bearded guys working in their basements. Things have changed. Facebook, Google and Amazon wouldn’t exist without open source software. Ditto for every application on your smartphone. Yet 20 years ago Microsoft waged a war against Linux and open source software […]

For an industry that portrays itself as enlightened and progressive it’s amazing how sexist tech companies are. Women comprise 30% of tech industry employees and only 26% of American coders in any industry. They also make 30% less than their male peers. We don’t need a reminder but Seattle’s second largest venture firm fired a […]

Seattle has a love hate relationship with commercial interests. Feelings have reached a fever pitch this year. Every day another superlative is heaped onto Seattle’s hyperbole mountain. Fastest growing: American city Housing prices Homelessness Employment Commercial development Seattle natives are displaced economically, culturally and by traffic jams. The beneficiaries of growth are commercial developers, residential developers, […]